hello and welcome to bbc news. south africa has said goodbye to archbishop desmond tutu with a state funeral at his former cathedral in cape town. he was famous for his modesty, and archbishop tutu gave instructions for a no—frills ceremony, with a simple wooden coffin, and an eco—friendly cremation. in his eulogy, president cyril ramaphosa called him the hero of the apartheid struggle, and a �*crusader for freedom, forjustice, for equality, and for peace�*. the bbc�*s nomsa maseko was there. family, friends, and politicians bidding farewell to a man who became one of the most important voices of the 20th century. this was a final send—off for archbishop desmond tutu, following a week of events to honour him. speakers shared memories of the anglican priest who did all he could to expose and to heal the wounds of south africa's brutal past. many of the messages we received have said, "thank you for sharing him with the world." well, it actually is a two—way street. because we shared him with the world, you shared part of the love you held for him with us. south africa's president delivered the main eulogy. archbishop desmond tutu has been our moral compass, but he has also been our national conscience. a few blocks away from the church, mourners gathered to watch the funeral on screens provided to allow ordinary citizens to pay tribute to the man they affectionately referred to as the arch. i have a strong sense that i needed to be in a community of people who were honouring him. the archbishop is a very important man, notjust in south africa but to the rest of the world. he's a great humanitarian, he's a wonderful person. he's done so much for this country. it was during south africa's long and violent struggle against the country's brutal regime that he rose to prominence. we will be free! after the country became a democracy, he presided over the tumultuous reconciliation process. in accordance with his wishes, the archbishop will be aquamated — this is a greener alternative to cremation. his ashes will be interred beneath the floor here at st george's cathedral. it's the end of an era — the last of south africa's well known freedom fighters leaves behind a difficult task for the leaders to rid the country of corruption and racial divisions, and to also forge the way forward in the spirit of the moral compass that many believe was the driving force to tutu's leadership. nomsa maseko, bbc news, cape town. as you heard, desmond tutu's body will be aquamated rather than cremated — i'll be speaking to an expert on this later in this bulletin, so do stay with us for that. the israeli military says it has launched attacks on targets in gaza in response to rocket fire from palestinian militants earlier on saturday. after night fell, the israeli defence forces said they struck what they called terrorist targets in the gaza strip. hamas radio said the israelis targeted some of the militants group's security posts and a training camp. the two rockets launched towards israeli earlier in the day fell in the sea off tel aviv. let's look at the pandemic now. and governments across europe have been releasing their latest figures — all of which seem to indicate a continued, rapid spread of covid. in the uk, the confirmed number of new infections is 162,572. that's lower than previous days this week — but — it only takes in figures from england — with northern ireland, scotland and wales not reporting. the uk has also reported 154 deaths from covid — that's a death recorded within 28 days of a positive test. france has reported almost 220,000 new infections. that's the fourth day in a row they have exceeded 200,000 — but is a little lower than the record which was set on friday. and there are close to record levels in italy — with more than 140,000 infections confirmed on saturday — the second successive day they've topped that figure. a senior british health official has warned, that the "next few days are crucial," in the battle against 0micron. chris hopson, the chief executive of national health service providers, says the uk government "must be ready to introduce new restrictions if they're needed." latest figures show hospital admissions in england, have risen to their highest level, since january last year. britiain�*s health secretary, sajid javid, has warned new restrictions on freedom "must be an absolute last resort." here's our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson. this is a platinum jubilee line train to... ..2022! a new year and with it, the hope that 2022 will draw us closer to the end of the pandemic, but, once again, january is likely to see soaring infection rates. last night, restrictions in some places, and advice in others, meant more subdued celebrations, but some were determined to celebrate. we've got our vaxes, we've got our boosters, we've done our things, we've followed the guidance. new year's eve has been a funny one this year because we obviously want to stay safe, but, also, in 15 years of living here, i've never been and done the london fireworks. so, boris had a cheese and wine party, so why can't i come and see the fireworks? hi, how are you? come in and take a seat. some had resolved to get protected for the new year and went for boosters today. this is third shot, booster, just want to make sure that i got all the protection we can get, stay out there, meeting friends and family, being out there living a normal life. the main priority right now is to keep everyone safe, keep spreading the awareness, please, please, please get vaccinated, it's so important. whether it's the first, second dose or booster, and to look out for each other and protect one another. the health secretary in england is hoping vaccines will prevent the need for more restrictions and said additional measures would be a last resort. the debate about whether it's safe to mix or if we need more restrictions will continue but the question is, just how effective might those be? government—commissioned modelling from warwick university suggests the window to suppress the peak may already have passed and that the last opportunity to introduce effective restrictions was a week ago, on boxing day. the number of patients in hospital with covid—i9 has increased by about 70% in a week, according to nhs providers. they say it's too early to know how this wave will play out. if the evidence shows that we are getting very significant numbers of people coming into hospital with covid, then the government needs to be ready to introduce further restrictions at pace. what we're trying to balance this against is the fact that the vaccines have changed the rules of the game. with most days now bringing record numbers of infections, as the virus spreads rapidly amongst us, the health secretary in england has warned of a big increase in hospitalisations this month, which is likely to test the limits of the nhs. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. coronavirus is continuing to cause major disruption for travellers worldwide. airlines cancelled more than a400 flights on saturday. it's one of the highest single—day tallies since the cancellations began just before christmas. stephanie prentice reports. from last minute cancellations, two hours of delays in airports. the past week has been called the perfect storm of travel chaos in the united states as the demand for new year's rush, staffing in 0micron world and bad weather cologne that may collide. many on social media so the trip was cancelled either as they arrived at the airport or once they were through security. some say they are now stuck until tuesday at the earliest. and this man described an extensive reroute involving sleeping on the floor at dallas airport. more than 4400 flights were cancelled worldwide over saturday and into sunday. 2500 of those were going to or from us airports. chicago took the biggest hit due to storms there with 1000 flights unable to use the 0 hair or midway airports. in a statement, united airlines, when those impact had said that today's cancellations were driven by 0micron staffing and weather—related issues. we did pre— councilflights in anticipation of inclement weather. but with many people now returning home from christmas holidays, sunday is expected to see further chaos, particularly with forecasts of snow and heavy wind. a bleak picture but one that travellers are starting to become familiar with and experts warn that the storm of travel chaos will get worse before it passes. let's get some of the day's other news. a belgian scientific research station in antarctica is dealing with an outbreak of covid—19. the infection has been reported in at least 16 of the 25 members of staff at the princess elisabeth polar station. all cases so far have been mild and new cases that make new arrivals have been suspended. at least two people are now reported to be missing, including a 91—year—old grandmother, after wildfires engulfed two towns in the american state of colorado on thursday. at least 30,000 people were forced to flee their homes at short notice when grassfires set houses ablaze in the suburbs of denver. at least 500 houses were destroyed. more than 20 people have been rescued after spending a night trapped in two cable cars in the us state of new mexico. the sandia peak tramway, in albuquerque, became stuck because of icy conditions. those on board — all employees of the company and a restaurant at the top — were supplied with food, water and emergency blankets. assisted suicide is now legal in austria, within a tightly regulated framework. the new law allows people over 18 who are terminally or chronically ill to end their lives but they will need to be assessed by two doctors. assisted suicide is where someone is given the means to end their own life which is already legal in switzerland. it has been decriminalised in belgium, luxembourg, the netherlands, and spain. bethany bell in vienna explains how the new austrian law will work. well, this is for people who are terminally ill or people who have a permanent and debilitating condition. they will now have the right to ask for assisted suicide. and, as you mentioned, it will be very tightly regulated — two doctors, one of whom must be an expert in palliative care, have to assess the cases, they also have to assess whether the person is making this decision independently, whether they are able to make this decision independently. and then there will be a 12—week period before the assistance is given. in some cases, that waiting period will be reduced to two weeks if it is for a patient who is in what the law calls the terminal phase. this is something that is not uncontroversial here in austria — notably, the catholic church has said that they are against this, and the austrian conference of bishops issued a statement saying they hope this law will never have to be used because there would be enough, when it called, "solidarity in austria" to prevent people needing to ask for assisted suicide. a german sea rescue charity has taken hundreds of migrants to the italian port of pozzallo, in sicily. the sea watch three vessel has spent the last week searching for a port that would accept them. the migrants were picked up in five separate operations in the mediterranean. crew members say the group includes more than 200 unaccompanied children. mattea weihe is the head of mission for sea—watch 3. she explains what the process is for disembarking everyone safely. we started the disembarkation process today, but it takes a lot of time so we currently have about half the amount of people on board, around 200 people currently. that issue is more of a logistical kind. basically the people need to have places in hotspots, they need to be registered, need to be put on quarantine ferries and this process takes a long time so basically as soon as they have places for people we can disembark them and when more places open up we can disembark the rest. the people are from all different kinds of places. they all fled libya and they all tell us horrible stories about the time they spent there, so when you sit down on deck and have a talk with them they actually tell you the most horrific stories you probably would have ever heard in your life. they come from various countries, sub—saharan countries, north african countries and they've made this really dangerous journey and they are really happy they can hopefully start a new life which is peaceful and actually gives them some sort of protection that they deserve. we always demand a quick disembarkation process because as you know a ship is not necessarily a place for 440 people who have been through hell and who ended up here so we are always really eager to get a disembarkation as quickly as possible in a place where they can be safe. however, we realised also in the past these processes take a very long time and we demand actually that they go quicker and quicker in the future. stay with us. a reminder of our headlines: south africa's president leads funeral tributes to archbishop desmond tutu, calling him "the nation's moral compass". coronavirus is still causing major disruption for travellers worldwide. thousands more flights have had to be cancelled. as you heard earlier, south africa has officially bid farewell to archbishop desmond tutu at his funeral in cape town. he asked for a basic coffin and called for his body to aquamated. so, what exactly is an aquamation? none of us here readily knew the answer, so we reached out to christopher taktak, the founder of doola, america's first direct to consumer aquamation service. he's in new york. it is all over the news at the moment obviously because of desmond tutu. can you briefly summarise what aquamation is and what the processes?- and what the processes? sure, and what the processes? sure, and thank _ and what the processes? sure, and thank you _ and what the processes? sure, and thank you for _ and what the processes? sure, and thank you for having - and what the processes? sure, and thank you for having me i and thank you for having me here. aquamation is scientifically known as alkaline hydrolysis. it's the most alkaline hydrolysis. it�*s the most eco— alkaline hydrolysis. it's the most eco— friendly and gentle way to dispose of the human body. effectively it uses water instead of fire to cremate a body's soft tissue and we use the bones afterwards to produce ashes but people can take home forfamilies and ashes but people can take home for families and loved ashes but people can take home forfamilies and loved ones, but the simplest description i could possibly give. the more scientifically one, you are using a combination of water, alkaline which is where the alkaline which is where the alkaline come from and in the alkaline come from and in the alkaline hydrolysis and heat and pressure to decompose a body. and pressure to decompose a bod . ., ., ,., and pressure to decompose a bod. ., ., , , ., body. the main reason desmond tutu seems _ body. the main reason desmond tutu seems to _ body. the main reason desmond tutu seems to have _ body. the main reason desmond tutu seems to have wanted - body. the main reason desmond tutu seems to have wanted to i tutu seems to have wanted to use this process is the environmental positives. tell us little about those.- environmental positives. tell us little about those. yeah, so alkaline hydrolysis _ us little about those. yeah, so alkaline hydrolysis is _ us little about those. yeah, so alkaline hydrolysis is the - us little about those. yeah, so alkaline hydrolysis is the most| alkaline hydrolysis is the most sustainable means of disposing a body, as i mentioned earlier. it releases absolutely no emissions and uses a 90% less fuel than flame cremation. if you're thinking about fire cremation, as basically you are putting a body in an oven and burning it away. that uses a process of combustion and produces over £500 of greenhouse gases. if there are pacemakers or devices inside the body, that is producing methane and other gases that are really harmful to the environment as well. it uses a lot of national fuel, but for natural fuel, lot of national fuel, but for naturalfuel, you lot of national fuel, but for natural fuel, you are using propane to burn grammar in a furnace but here we are using a gentle solution of water, a bit of heat and a bit of alkali which is as a catalyst to make their want to do itsjob which is as a catalyst to make their want to do its job faster and as i said no emissions and 10% lowerfuel use than and as i said no emissions and 10% lower fuel use than flame cremation. it 10% lower fuel use than flame cremation-— cremation. it is a very innovative _ cremation. it is a very innovative new - cremation. it is a very l innovative new process cremation. it is a very - innovative new process and i guess regulation there is something that needs to catch up something that needs to catch up with the innovation.- up with the innovation. yeah, regulation — up with the innovation. yeah, regulation has _ up with the innovation. yeah, regulation has been - up with the innovation. yeah, regulation has been a - up with the innovation. yeah, regulation has been a bit - up with the innovation. yeah, | regulation has been a bit slow in the us especially. right now, it is legal in 23 states which is phenomenal, california legalised it last year and we're hoping texas follows through with this year now that 2022 has begun. what is a shame though is countries like the uk and other countries in europe have not yet seen the need or the benefit to legalise alkaline hydrolysis. when you are thinking about the overall environmental impact of death, it's actually a process that obviously every single person goes through and the two most popular means of disposing of our body are not sustainable at all. burial is bad for soil and takes up a lot of land and creates formaldehyde and a lot of wood in the environment. cremation releases too many emissions to really consider it sustainable. so we're hoping that the us catches up and additionally, the rest of europe and world as well. i guess potentially one of the benefits of desmond tutu using this process is that people will hear about it and it may become more normalised. we are hoinu for become more normalised. we are honing for a _ become more normalised. we are hoping for a normalisation. - become more normalised. we are hoping for a normalisation. i - hoping for a normalisation. i often deal with witty much every single time i mention what water cremation is someone is what is that? what is that? and you have to talk them through about what the processes by the end result pretty much every single time i ask at the end of the conversation when i have introduced the process, i ask people would you rather choose what cremation over flame cremation and the answer is pretty much always a resounding yes. and to put it simply, if you are recycling every single day, if you are driving electric, if you are doing whatever you can to reduce carbon emissions and your output onto the world, there is no reason not to choose aquamation. so i think a lot of people are beginning to think it like that, desmond tutu included. it like that, desmond tutu included-— it like that, desmond tutu included. �* , included. and you started this business at _ included. and you started this business at age _ included. and you started this business at age 22 _ included. and you started this business at age 22 and - included. and you started this business at age 22 and i - included. and you started thisl business at age 22 and i gather you were the youngest in california to do anything like this. what brought you to this industry? i this. what brought you to this indust ? . , this. what brought you to this indust ? , , industry? i was studying in new york at the _ industry? i was studying in new york at the time _ industry? i was studying in new york at the time at _ industry? i was studying in new york at the time at columbia i york at the time at columbia university and taking a course on human— centred design and as i was taking the course, the pandemic began and i thought really, i would just apply those principles from that course, willing businesses, building solutions based on human values. i wanted to apply that to the west part of the pandemic, the loss of a loved one, and that is what i did. i spoke to hundreds of people who have been grieving over the last couple of years thanks to covid and even before that, once i came across alkaline hydrolysis or aquamation, i knew it was time to build a business in this industry around that process, and that's exactly what i chose to do and as i mentioned, i was the youngest licensed funeral director in california and hopefully that is a sign of something new to happen to this industry. i'm trying to revitalise it with a bit of youthful energy, i hope! what a christopher. _ youthful energy, i hope! what a christopher, thank _ youthful energy, i hope! what a christopher, thank you - youthful energy, i hope! what a christopher, thank you for i christopher, thank you for taking through what could be a very complex process but he simplified it very well there. christopher taktak, live in new york, thank you for that. the government of borno state in north—east nigeria has confirmed the closure of all camps for the state's 1.8 million displaced people. camp residents will be relocated among established communities across borno. rights groups have urged the authorities to suspend the closures. they warned the resettlement programme could endanger the lives of more than 10,000 households following continued attacks by islamist groups, as well as human rights violations committed by the nigerian military. 0ur reporter chris ewokor explains why the borno state government took this decision now. the borno state government said the camps have become slums where a lot of vices going on, sometimes criminality and prosecution and the light and you know, —— prostitution. these people have been living in these camps between ten or 12 years, children who were born in the camps have grown up and then they don't know any other form of life. and then they don't know any otherform of life. so the government says it wants to build resilience of these people and give them a new life. but we must also understand there are 1.8 million, nearly 2 million people, who have been affected, especially in borno alone, and many have been living in these displacement camps across the state capital and many of them, including the children are now going to be resettled in some of the immunities, their own original community of the community of their choice, the government is giving them $200, family, to be able to help themselves. what they fear here is that some of these communities could still come under attack by islamist groups and the government is assuring them they are being settled close to military facilities where they could be given protection. a chinese man who was abducted over 30 years ago has been reunited with his biological mother after drawing a map of his childhood village from memory. li jingwei was just four years old when he was lured away from his home and sold into a child trafficking ring. on christmas eve, he shared a hand—drawn map on social media, which police matched to a small village where there was a woman whose son had disappeared decades before. mr li was abducted from his home in yunnan province in 1989 and sold to a family living over 1,800km away. he and his mother were reunited in yunnan province on saturday. video footage of the reunion showed lijingwei carefully removing his mother's coronavirus mask to examine her face, before breaking down in tears and embracing her. all around the world, people have been welcoming the new year in a host of different ways. some spent time with family and friends, others headed to the shops to get a bargain. but a surprisingly large number decided to see in 2022 by getting wet. the bbc�*s tim allman explains. what is it with new year's day and people doing things like this? here in rome, for more than half a century, every year, to celebrate the new year, to celebrate the new year, they threw themselves into the tybur river. normally the water is icy cold. when mild weather meant it was perhaps a little less bracing this time around. in the netherlands, a group of hardy souls went for a dip in the north sea. an official event had been cancelled due to covid restrictions but some just couldn't stop themselves. it feels like a refreshment, you know? now i feel like all my troubles are gone. and actually i feel really energised. hat i feel really energised. not that far away _ i feel really energised. not that far away in _ i feel really energised. not that far away in portugal, their destination was the choppy seas of the north atlantic. the sun was shining, the water was cold, the mood was surprisingly positive. i too it is a portuguese tradition on this beach. what is nice is the conviviality, socialising with people, hoping to be able to recover our strength for a much better gear and hoping to get out of this pandemic. fin and hoping to get out of this pandemic— and hoping to get out of this andemic. ., , ., pandemic. on the other side of the pond. _ pandemic. on the other side of the pond. they _ pandemic. on the other side of the pond, they have _ pandemic. on the other side of the pond, they have some i the pond, they have some traditions of their own. in boston, one of america's oldest cold water swimming groups commonly marched to a nearby beach. before they all made a mad dash for it. some called it crazy, some called it fun. it certainly is one way to see in the new year. tim allman, bbc news. let's bring you a reminder of our top story, but south africa has paid its officialfarewell to archbishop desmond tutu, the anti—apartheid campaigner. president cyril ramaphosa called him the nation's moral compass. it isjust called him the nation's moral compass. it is just about it from us. more news of course on our website. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @sipusey. but for me and the team, thank you for watching and i will see you for watching and i will see you soon. hello. it's been an unusually warm start to the brand new year. not only did new year's day bring us the warmest start to a january morning on record, the temperature overnight didn't drop below 13.2 celsius at chivenor in devon, but we also picked up our warmest new year's day on record — the temperature above 16 degrees in london. and it wasn'tjust here in the uk that experienced an exceptional warmth — that's been across much of europe, as you can see by these yellow and amber colours. record—breaking for some but a change as colder air pushes in through next week to something much more akin to january, even the return of snow for some. no snow, though, to start sunday morning. it will be a little bit chilly across parts of north east scotland but elsewhere, a very mild start and some heavy downpours to begin with across the eastern half of england. quickly gets out of the way, then lots of sunshine through much of the day. a few showers in the west which will become more extensive and frequent as we go through the morning, some of those becoming heavy with hail and thunder, particularly lively, though, through wales, the south—west, pushing towards the midlands and central southern england for the afternoon. some eastern areas will stay dry, though, after that morning rain until later on but a blustery day across the board. not quite as windy in western scotland, though, as we saw on new year's day. temperature—wise, down a little bit on new year's day values but still significantly above where we'd normally expect this stage in january. so, some heavy rain, then, into sunday evening, spreading across the eastern half of england. that clears through. a few showers through the night and into monday morning. most of those, though, will be across parts of scotland and northern ireland and they could start to turn a bit wintry across the far north of scotland as colder air tries to edge its way in. and that's all to the north of this weather front. that's going to be slowly pushing its way southwards through monday. at the same time, an approaching one to into the south—west. in between those two areas, a lot of dry weather for england and wales on monday — a bank holiday for many — just one or two showers. cold and wintry showers spreading into the north of scotland. the dividing line between that cold air, though, by the end of the day be lying somewhere across northern ireland, southern scotland, northern england. outbreaks of rain and that, a wet end to the day for those in around the english channel. that low will clear through and as it does so, monday night into tuesday, the cold air floods its way southwards and it will be a much chillier day. in fact, we could see some pretty frequent snow showers in the north of scotland and strengthening winds which could cause problems later on tuesday and into wednesday. but the upshot is for all of us, temperatures much lower next week. as you can see here, from a selection of towns and cities from the four nations, temperatures in single figures and, as i said, a bit of snow for some of you. this is bbc news — the headlines: south africa has paid its official farewell to archbishop desmond tutu. president cyril ramaphosa called him the nation's moral compass. in a eulogy delivered at the state funeral — mr ramaphosa said desmond tutu had been the spiritual father of the new nation and the bearer of its conscience. covid—19 is continuing to cause major disruption for travellers worldwide — airlines cancelled more than 4400 flights on saturday. it's one of the highest single—day tolls since the cancellations began just before christmas, and thousands of flights were grounded due to surging covid cases among airline crews and ground personnel. a german sea rescue charity has taken hundreds of migrants to the italian port of pozzallo, in sicily. the sea watch 3 vessel has spent the last week searching for a port that would accept them. the migrants were picked up in five separate operations in the mediterranean. now on bbc news, it's time for our world: lebanon on life support.